Untapped Potential for your Magazine in … Podcasts?

Ancillary content is one of my favorite topics. By “ancillary,” I mean “side content” that you produce every day in the creation of your main content. This “side content” might not even strike you as “content”—it could be lists you’re making in meetings, or ranting emails you write to your board, or conversations you’re having in the break room.

Chances are that with some polishing, this ancillary content created at work is passionate, focused, and perfect for your audience. I advocate, often, that publishers examine the side content generated throughout the course of a normal day, try to mine it for value, polish and package it for the audience, and then find the best way to present it.

This is exactly what Empire magazine has done. As a publication covering the entertainment industry, they often had stars in their offices for photo shoots, interviews, and whatnot. Well, they decided to turn on the microphones and start a podcast. Recently, they spoke to Digiday about the new venture:

Empire’s magazine is still its main product. But when film stars come to the offices for cover shoots, they get pulled into the podcasts, meaning Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro Steven Spielberg, Alan Rickman and Meryl Streep have all made appearances.

[…]

The 27-year-old magazine already had a sizeable, established base, so around 25,000 people tuned into the first Empire Film Podcast. Now it gets up to a 100,000 downloads a week to its podcast, a 50-minute show featuring magazine editorial staff and guests talking about movie news and reviews.

With some creative thinking and a willingness to experiment, Empire has turned their “office talk” into a podcast with 100,000 downloads a week. Kudos.